Photo-frame back-part with guide holes

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a back-part of a photo-frame having at least one guide hole ( 10 ), and one hanger component located exactly above said guide hole ( 10 ).

BACK GROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a back-part of a photo-frame, andparticularly to a back-part of a photo-frame by which the attachment ofsaid photo-frame on wall becomes easier.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Photo-frame has been known as a place to receive a photograph, which ismountable on wall or placed on a particular locus, for example, a table.For photo-frames intended to be mounted on walls, said photo-framesusually are equipped with a hanger component located at the back-part ofsuch photo-frames. Said hanger component is usually mounted permanentlyat the back-part.

Additionally, in order a conventional photo-frame can be hung on a wall,the back-part of said photo-frame has to be equipped with a hanging holefor receiving a photo-frame supporting device, for example, a nail, asdisclosed in European Patent Application No. EP-0 094 210 A2.

Mounting conventional photo-frames with back-parts as described abovehas a weakness in determining points in which photo-frame supportingdevice, for example, a nail, has to be placed on walls.

To overcome the disadvantage of the back-part of conventionalphoto-frame, such back-part is improved so that the determination ofpoints on wall wherein a supporting device, such as nail or screw, ismounted, becomes easier.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a back-part of aphoto-frame which can ease the determination of a point in which asupporting device, such as a nail or a screw, mounted on wall.

The back-part according to the present invention has at least one guidehole and at least one hanger component located exactly on said guidehole.

Preferably, the back-part of the present invention is equipped with twoguide holes and two hanger components each of which located above theguide holes, wherein one guide hole is located in the center of lengthdirection of the back-part and the other one is located in the center ofwidth direction of the back-part.

In another embodiment, the back-part of the present invention has threeguide holes and three hanger components each of which located above theguide holes, wherein two guide holes are located in the center of lengthdirection of the back-part and the other one is located in the center ofwidth direction of the back-part.

Still in another embodiment, the back-part of the present invention isequipped with four guide holes and four hanger components each of whichlocated above the guide holes, wherein two guide holes are located inthe center of length direction of the back-part and the other two arelocated in the center of width direction of the back-part.

Preferably, the hanger component of the back-part of present inventionhas a hanger body and a saw-tooth-shaped contact member. Additionally,such hanger component has a hanger body and a triangle recess-shapedcontact member. Also, such hanger component has a hanger body and asemicircle-shaped contact member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of a back-part of the present invention, equippedwith two guide holes and two hanger components.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a back-part of the present invention, equippedwith three guide holes and three hanger components.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a pair of guide hole and hanger component.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a hanger component.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a hanger component with different contactmembers in shape.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the back-part of the present invention,equipped with two guide holes and two hanger components.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the back-part of the present invention,equipped with two pairs of guide holes and hanger components in lengthdirection of the back-part and a pair of guide hole and hanger componentin width direction of the back-part.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the back-part of the present invention,equipped with two pairs of guide holes and hanger components in lengthdirection of the back-part and two pairs of guide holes and hangercomponents in width direction of the back-part.

FIG. 9 is a figure showing the position of the back-part at aphoto-frame.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A back-part according to the present invention is a part of aphoto-frame located on the rear side of such photo-frame. In otherwords, the back-part of the present invention will be mounted on theback part of the photo-frame in such a way that photographs or picturesare mounted between the frame and said back-part.

Referring to FIG. 1, the back-part according to the present inventioncan be equipped with at least one guide hole (10) and at least onehanger component (20).

The guide hole (10) and the hanger component (20) can be disposedadjacent one to another. Preferably, the hanger component (20) can bedisposed straightly on the guide hole (10) in such a way that the upperperipheral of such guide hole (10) is exactly occupied by the lower endof the hanger component (20), as can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. In thiscase, the term of “exactly” is clearly seen in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, it canbe seen that the guide hole (10) and the hanger component (20) arecoinciding with each other although coinciding occurred only between theguide hole (10) and the peripheral of saw-tooth-shaped contact member ofhanger component (20).

The guide hole (10) of the back-part of the invention can be intended asa means to determine a point on the wall where supporting device such asnails or screws will be placed or pivoted or nailed. Generally, suchguide hole (10) is not intended to receive supporting device, such asnails, however if needed, such guide hole (10) can also receivesupporting device, such as nails or screws, when a photo-frame with aback-part of the invention mounted on the wall.

By having guide hole (10) at the back-part of the invention, the problemof determining the position of the supporting device, such as nails orscrews, on the wall that holds or supports photo-frame will be overcomewherein the determination of said supporting device, such as nails orscrews, will only be determined by the guide hole (10) of the back-part,without a need of performing an act of measuring the position or pointwherein the supporting device, such as nails or screws, mounted on thewall, particularly if more than one position or points wherein thesupporting device, such as nails or screws, mounted on the wall, areneeded.

The guide hole (10) of the back-part of the invention may have adiameter suitable to be passed by a supporting device, such as nails orscrews. Preferably, the diameter of the guide hole (10) may have a rangefrom 1 mm to 10 mm. More preferably, the diameter of the guide hole (10)may have a range from 1 mm to 5 mm. Most preferably, the diameter of theguide hole (10) is 3 mm. Generally, the diameter of the guide hole (10)will be determined by the dimension of the back-part of the invention.The larger the dimension of the back-part is, the larger the diameter ofthe guide hole (10) will be.

The guide hole (10) may have a cross-section in the shapes of circular,rectangular, rectilinear, triangular, and other shapes suitable forsupporting device, such as nails or screws. Preferably, thecross-section of the guide hole (10) is circular in view of supportingdevices usually used for photo-frame are nails or screws.

The hanger component (20) of the back-part of the invention ispositioned just above the guide hole (10), as can be seen in FIGS. 1-2.With such construction, each one guide hole (10) will be paired to onehanger component (20). Such hanger component (20) can be placed with acertain distance from either edge of the back-part. Preferably, suchhanger component (20) can be placed from 0.1 inch to 2.0 inch from theedge of the back-part. More preferably, such hanger component (20) canbe placed at 0.25 inch apart from the edge of the back-part, as can beseen in FIGS. 1-8.

Referring to FIG. 3, the hanger component (20) of the back-part of theinvention may have a hanger body (22) and a saw-tooth-shaped contactmember (24). The hanger body (22) of such hanger component (22) can bemounted on the back-part by a fastening device, such as screw, throughat least one holding hole (222). Such hanger component (20) can alsohave a triangle-recess-shaped contact member (242), as seen in FIG. 4.Additionally, such hanger component (20) can also have ahalf-circle-shaped contact member (244), as seen in FIG. 5. The hangercomponent (20) of the back-part of the invention can be made of metals,plastics, woods, and others. Preferably, such hanger component (20) ismade of metals, particularly aluminum, bronze, steel, stainless steel.

In one embodiment, the back-part of the present invention can beprovided with at least one guide hole (10) and one hanger component(20). Preferably, the back-part of the invention can be provided withtwo guide holes (10) spaced-apart one to another and two hangercomponents (20) in which one guide hole (10) and one hanger component(20) are positioned in the middle of length direction of the back-partand the other one guide hole (10) and one hanger component (20) arepositioned in the middle of width direction of the back-part, as seen inFIG. 1.

With such a position, photo-frame with the back-part of the presentinvention can be mounted on wall both in the length direction of thephoto-frame and in the width direction of the photo-frame as well. Suchan embodiment in general is suitable for relatively bigger photo-framesin dimension, for example photo-frames with dimension of 8×10 inches(5×7 inches) or 10×10 inches (5×5 inches), as can be seen in FIGS. 1 and6.

In another embodiment, the back-part of the present invention can beprovided with three guide holes (10) spaced-apart one to the other andthree hanger components (20) each of which is paired to the respectiveguide holes (10) wherein two guide holes (10) and two hanger components(20) are positioned in the length direction of the back-part and theother guide holes (10) and hanger components (20) are positioned in thewidth direction of the back-part, as can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 7. Inthe disposition of two hanger components (20) in such length direction,it is preferably each side of the hanger component (20) adjacent theedge of the back-part can be positioned at a distance of around 1 inchto 3 inch from the edge of the back-part. Preferably, the distancebetween each side of the hanger component (20) adjacent the edge of theback-part is around 1.5 inch, as can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 7. Thedisposition two guide holes (10) and two hanger components (20) in thelength direction of the back-part is meant to obtain a good mounting ofphoto-frame on the wall in view of the dimension of photo-frame in thelength direction is so big enough that it needs two hanger components(20). With such a disposition, photo-frame with the back-part of theinvention can be mounted on the wall both in the length and widthdirection of the photo-frame. In general, such an embodiment is suitablefor relatively big photo-frames, for example photo-frames with thedimension of 10 inches×13 inches (8 inches×10 inches), of 10 inches×13inches (8.5 inches×11 inches), or of 10 inches×20 inches (3-5 inches×7inches), or with the dimension of up to 24 inches×36 inches.

In another embodiment, the back-part of the present invention can beprovided with four guide holes (10) spaced apart one to the others andfour hanger components (20) each of them is paired to one guide hole(10) wherein two guide holes (10) and two hanger components (20) arepositioned in the length direction of the back-part and the other twoguide holes (10) and two hanger components (20) are positioned in thewidth direction of the back-part, as can be seen in FIG. 8. In thedisposition of the two hanger components in the length direction, eachside of the hanger component (20) adjacent the edge of the back-part canbe positioned at a distance of around 1 inch to 4 inch from the edge ofthe back-part. Preferably, the distance of the respective side of thehanger components (20) adjacent the edge of the back-part is around 2inch, as can be seen in FIGS. 7 and 8. The disposition of two guideholes (10) and two hanger components (20) in the length direction of theback-part and two guide holes (10) and two hanger components (20) in thewidth direction of the back-part is to obtain a good mounting ofphoto-frame on the wall in view of the dimension of photo-frame is bigenough so that it respectively needs two hanger components (20) in thelength direction of the back-part and two hanger components (20) in thewidth direction of the back-part. With such a disposition, photo-framewith the back-part of the invention can be mounted on the wall both inthe length and width direction of the photo-frame. In general, such anembodiment is suitable for relatively big photo-frames, for examplephoto-frames with the dimension of 14 inches×18 inches (11 inches×14inches)

For a back-part with dimension bigger than those described above, theback-part of the invention can be provided with more than two guideholes (10) spaced apart one to the other and more than two hangercomponents (20) each of which is paired to each corresponding guideholes (10) both in the length and width direction of the back-part. Forexample, the back-part of the invention can be provided with three guideholes (10) spaced apart one to the other in the length direction of theback-part and three guide holes (10) spaced apart one to the other inthe width direction of the back-part, wherein every guide hole (10) ispaired to one hanger components (20).

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, both guide hole (10)and its corresponding mating hanger component (20) can be positioned inthe middle part of the length or width direction, if the back-part ofthe invention is equipped with one guide hole (10) and one hangercomponent (20), respectively. More preferably, such guide hole (10) andhanger component (20) can be positioned at the edge of such back-part,as can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2.

If the back-part of the present invention is provided with twospaced-apart guide holes (10) and two hanger components (20) in itslength and width direction, then each guide hole (10) is preferablypositioned in every corner of the back-part, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.More preferably, such guide hole (10) and hanger component (20) can bepositioned at the edge of the back-part, as can be seen in FIGS. 7 and8.

If the back-part of the present invention is equipped with twospaced-apart guide holes (10) and two hanger components (20) in itslength direction, and one guide hole (10) and one hanger component inits width direction, then each guide hole (10) positioned in the lengthdirection of the back-part is preferably positioned in every corner ofthe back-part, whereas one guide hole (10) and one hanger component (20)positioned in the width direction of the back-part is preferablypositioned in the middle part of one of back-part edges, as shown inFIGS. 2 and 7. More preferably, such guide hole (10) and hangercomponent (20) can be positioned at the edge of the back-part, as can beseen in FIGS. 2 and 7.

The back-part according to the present invention can be made ofcardboards, woods, plywood, plastics, thermoplastics, medium densityfiberboards (MDF), or any other material commonly used as a back-part ofa photo-frame. Preferably, the back-part of the present invention ismade of cardboards or medium density fiberboards (MDF).

The cross-section of the back-part of the present invention can berectangular, cube, triangular, pentagon, or other regular shapes. Inaddition, the back-part of the present invention may have an oval orround cross-section.

The assembly of photo-frame with the back-part of the present inventionwill be explained below.

Referring to FIG. 9, firstly, the back-part of the present invention isdetached from photo-frame (5). Next, such back-part is adhered to wallto which such photo-frame will be mounted on and subsequently marked asign on the wall through guide hole (10). This sign will be a place towhich a supporting device, such as a nail or a screw, be put on thewall. Then, the back-part can be detached from wall, and the dispositionor the mounting of a supporting device, such as nail or screw, can bedone on the wall exactly on the sign which have been marked by suchguide hole (10).

After having a supporting device, such as a nail or a screw, mounted onthe wall at a place marked by such guide hole (10), the back-part of thepresent invention can be mounted on photo-frame (5) wherein suchback-part can be supported or clamped on the frame by some clampingmeans commonly used in the art, and then this photo-frame with aback-part of the present invention can be mounted on a supportingdevice, such as a nail or a screw, that has been positioned on the wall.

1. A back-part of a photo-frame, comprising: at least one guide hole(10); and at least one hanger component (20) positioned exactly abovethe guide hole (10).
 2. The back-part according to claim 1, wherein thenumber of the guide holes (10) is two wherein one guide hole (10) ispositioned in the middle of length direction of said back-part andanother one in the middle of width direction of said back-part, and thenumber of the hanger components (20) is two wherein each of which ispositioned above said guide holes (10).
 3. The back-part according toclaim 1, wherein the number of the guide holes (10) is three wherein twoguide holes (10) are positioned in the length direction of saidback-part and one guide hole (10) is positioned in the middle of widthdirection of said back-part, and the number of the hanger components(20) is three wherein each of which is positioned above said guide holes(10).
 4. The back-part according to claim 1, wherein the number of theguide holes (10) is four wherein two guide holes (10) are positioned inthe length direction of said back-part and two guide holes (10) ispositioned in the width direction of said back-part, and the number ofthe hanger components (20) is four wherein each of which is positionedabove said guide holes (10).
 5. A back-part according claim 1, whereinsaid hanger component (20) has a hanger body (22) and a saw-tooth-shapedcontact member (24).
 6. A back-part according to claim 1, wherein saidhanger component (20) has a hanger body (22) and atriangle-recess-shaped contact member (242).
 7. A back-part according toclaim 1, wherein said hanger component (20) has a hanger body (22) and ahalf-circle-shaped contact member (244).